The House Nextdoor - Where Real Estate and Real Life Meet

Send us Fan Mail That MLS description you fell in love with might be selling a mood, not a house. We’re Anthony Harris and Barbara Giglio, and we’re pulling back the curtain on the real language of real estate, where “cozy” can mean cramped, “endless possibilities” can mean nothing has been updated, and “sold as is” can be a warning label disguised as confidence. We also talk about how AI-style li...

Send us Fan Mail Phone audio at a restaurant. Speakerphone in public. People filming instead of living. We’ve hit a point where “common” doesn’t always mean “courteous,” and we’re saying the quiet part out loud. Anthony Harris and Barbara Giulio swap stories from life on the road in Central Texas, including the kind of long-drive bathroom emergency that makes you question every choice you’ve ever...

Send us Fan Mail Mortgage advice gets weird fast: someone buys a Tesla a week before closing, a paycheck changes, or an “easy” online payment estimate turns out to be missing taxes and HOA dues. That’s why we invited Christian Turner from Fairway Mortgage (Wood Group) to sit down with us and talk about what really happens between preapproval and the closing table, especially for buyers navigating...

Send us Fan Mail Realtor reputation is a weird thing to carry around, especially when you genuinely love helping people buy and sell homes. We get real about the moment someone asks, “So what do you do?” and you feel that tiny urge to apologize before saying “realtor.” That reaction doesn’t come from nowhere, and we unpack the exact behaviors that make consumers doubt real estate agents, from sale...

Send us Fan Mail Time feels like it is speeding up, AI is suddenly everywhere, and somehow we end up connecting it all back to real estate, stress, and the choices we make every day. We kick things off with some playful talk and a mortgage joke, then we get into the real question: how are agents and consumers actually using tools like ChatGPT, and where does it start to get risky? We share the rea...

Send us Fan Mail A real estate closing can look like a few signatures and a set of keys, but the truth is that title work is where deals either get protected or fall apart. We sit down with Diane Myers from Community National Title (CNAT), a 24-year title pro, to talk about the behind-the-scenes reality of title insurance, escrow coordination, and what it takes to guide buyers and sellers through...

Send us Fan Mail Some opinions are harmless until you say them out loud and suddenly you’re risking your friendships, your group chat, and maybe your entire reputation. We decide to do exactly that, sharing our most unpopular opinions with zero politics and just enough self awareness to admit we’re judging a little. The result is a fast, funny conversation that feels like hanging out with friends...

Send us Fan Mail Summer isn’t supposed to feel like a sprint, so why does it keep turning into one? We’re feeling that same “pressure cooker” pace you might be living in right now, where the calendar stays full, the phone never stops, and somehow you still end the day thinking you’re behind. So we hit pause on real estate and talk about something just as real: how to slow down and actually enjoy C...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people say they “love real estate,” but they rarely talk about the parts that make you question everything: the late-night calls, the unpredictable schedule, the stress of building a pipeline from scratch, and the moment you realize you need real stability for your family. We’re joined by Amy Marino, who shares how she found her way into real estate after divorce and why...

Send us Fan Mail That dream of a quiet Central Texas ranch can flip the moment a new highway, data center, or industrial site shows up on the map. We’re Anthony Harris and Barbara Giglio, and we’re digging into what it really takes to buy land and acreage around Austin and the surrounding corridor without getting surprised after closing. We talk through the due diligence we actually run when a buy...

Send us Fan Mail Your listing doesn’t have to “go live” to start selling. We’re joined by Amanda Dudley and John Coake from Compass Central Texas to talk about what happens behind the curtain when a brokerage mixes real human coaching with real marketing leverage and real data. We get into the culture piece first: why accessibility matters, what it’s like to move from agent to manager, and how the...

Send us Fan Mail Ghost a showing, send 27 Zillow links at 2:30 a.m., or “test the market” with no real plan and you might be the reason your Realtor needs therapy. We’re Anthony Harris and Barbara Giglio, and we get candid about the real relationship behind a successful home sale or home purchase: mutual respect, clear communication, and basic human decency. We start with some light chaos, includi...

Send us Fan Mail We sit down with Noah Gowen from Orchard Title to pull back the curtain on what title and escrow really do and why the “mystery fees” can protect you from major legal and money problems. We trade wild real-world stories about heirs, liens, lender delays, and wire fraud, plus the habits that make closings smoother for buyers, sellers, and agents.  • how a title company acts as a ne...

Send us Fan Mail We trade a couple real estate life stories, then get blunt about what HOAs really do, from keeping neighborhoods tidy to handing out fines and surprise bills. We lay out the risks buyers miss most, including special assessments, lawsuits that stop sales, and the real power an HOA can have over your home.  • why HOAs exist and what they enforce  • benefits like amenities, symmetry,...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people think real estate is about confidence, image, and always having the perfect thing to say. We think it’s about something tougher and more useful: staying human while the stakes are high. Our first guest, Austin real estate broker Christina Mugno, is Barbara’s real estate mentor and one of the most grounded pros we know. She walks us through her path from apartment m...

Send us Fan Mail Open houses, staging, new construction, and Zillow have all become lightning-rod topics, and we’re done pretending the answers are simple. Recording from a comedy club, we bring the same energy we see in the market: a little chaotic, occasionally funny, and very real about what actually moves a home and what just creates noise. We go head-to-head on the claim that open houses don’...

Send us Fan Mail “Who is stupid enough to buy a house right now?” We keep hearing that line in public, and honestly, we get why. Higher interest rates, scary headlines, and the whiplash from the COVID-era housing boom can make the real estate market feel like a trap. So we slow it down and answer the real question behind the noise: when does buying a home make sense for your life, and when is it s...

Send us Fan Mail Falling in love with a historic home is easy. Living with one is where reality shows up. We start with some studio catch-up, including Anthony’s new responsibility, Maple the dog, plus a very Austin moment: spotting a Jetsons-style autonomous flying taxi at a reggae festival. Then we get into what we really came to talk about: buying unique homes and historic houses, and why the “...

Send us Fan Mail Real estate gets sold as a lifestyle: flexible hours, quick closings, big commission checks, and beautiful houses on repeat. We’ve lived the version that doesn’t fit in a highlight reel, and we’re laying it out straight for anyone asking, “Should I get my real estate license?” From the first costs of becoming a realtor to the emotional whiplash of deals that fall apart, we talk ab...

Send us Fan Mail Real estate doesn’t get unhinged on the closing table. It gets unhinged at the front door, mid-showing, when you least expect it. We’re Barbara Giglio and Anthony Harris, and we’re back with the kind of real estate stories that never make it into listing descriptions. We talk about the wild buyer and seller behavior we’ve seen firsthand: the showing where a goat charges a client,...

Send us Fan Mail Zillow and Instagram can make you feel like the perfect house is one scroll away, but then you show up and reality hits: the “mid-century modern” dream is dark and chopped up, the skylight is leaking, and the smell is doing most of the talking. We unpack the growing gap between online home shopping and what buyers actually get when they tour properties, especially in and around Au...

Send us Fan Mail We talk through why the market suddenly feels confusing again and how war-driven uncertainty can ripple into inflation, oil prices, and mortgage rates. We break down what smart buyers and sellers can do right now to avoid costly timing mistakes and still come out ahead.  • why global uncertainty can push mortgage rates higher even when the Fed holds steady  • what a “payment-sensi...

Send us Fan Mail Cookie-cutter is losing its grip, and we are honestly relieved. We’re catching up the only way we know how with rodeo stories, a mechanical bull detour, and some unfiltered truth about what’s been going on in real life lately, including Barbara’s brief and intense run-in with GLP-1 weight loss injections and what it taught us about side effects, appetite, muscle, and the mental ga...

Send us Fan Mail You can wear green and still lose the house if you don’t understand the rules of the game. We keep the St Patrick’s Day energy going while we walk through a practical, start-to-finish home buying process that helps buyers stay calm, protected, and prepared, whether you’re a first-time home buyer or you haven’t moved in years. We start where every smart purchase begins: mortgage pr...

Send us Fan Mail We’re kicking off season two with the kind of update that changes everything behind the scenes: we officially formed a team and switched brokerages. That decision wasn’t about shiny branding or chasing trends. It was about protecting the way we serve clients when a company’s priorities start drifting toward fees, mergers, and corporate muscle over real support. We talk candidly ab...